Mining-bucket-dumping apparatus.



PATENTED JAN. 24, 1905.

y W; R. WILGOX. MINING BUCKET DUMPING- APPARATUS.

APPLIOATION-FILED FEB, 16,1904.

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LAM L Patented January 24, 1905.

. PATENT OFFICE.

WILLIAM R. wILoo'x, E BOISE, IDAHO.

MlNlNG-BUCKET-DUMPING APPARATUS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters fatent N0. 780,629, dated. January 24, 1905.

Application filed February 16, 1904- Serial No. 193,775.

T0 at whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, WILLIAM R. WILCOX, a citizen of the United States, residing at Boise, in the county of Ada and State of Idaho, have invented new and useful Improvements in Mining-Bucket-DumpingApparatus, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to improvements in mining apparatus, and particularly in means for dumping the bucket, in means for closing the mouth of the shaft, and in means for operating said closing means and said dumping means coordinately.

It consists ofthe parts and the construction, and combination of parts, as hereinafter more fully described, having reference to the accompanyingdrawings, in which Figure 1 is a side elevation of my invention. Fig. 2 is a front View of same. Fig. 3 is a detail of the bucket-dumping bridle. Fig. 4 is a detailofthe bucket.

A represents a suitable framework or gallows supporting the parts of my apparatus and disposed in proper relation to the mouth of the shaft, which is normally closed by the hinged doors or hatches 2. I

3 is a hoisting-rope passing over a sheave 4 in the frame and attached to the bucket 5 and operated from any suitable source of power.

The bucket as it is supported from sheave 4 would normally depend over the shaft-opening.

It is desired that when the bucket is lowered into the shaft or is about to be lowered the hatches should be open and that when the loaded bucket is hoisted out of the shaft and during the dumping of the bucket the hatches matically and that the opening and closing of the hatches be done coordinately with the operation of the dumping mechanism.

In the presence instance I have shown the following mechanism for effecting the desired ends: A dumping-bridle consisting of the side bars 6, a bottom support 7 a segmental rear brace 8, and a top roller or bar 9 is suspended to the'lugs 11 on the bridle or in such other suitable manner as to cause the bottom of the bridle to tip forward, so that the hook member 12, carried in a recess 13 on support 7, may always engage the pendent coupling member If on the bottom of the bucket when the latter is lowered to rest upon support 7 The bridle may be drawn back out of the path ,of the bucket by means of a cord 15 passing over a guide-sheave 16 on the frame and attaching to a drum 17, operated, for example, by the crank 18. Ordinarily, except during dumping op erations, the bridle would be drawn back, the hoisting-rope 3 passing down in front of roller or bar 9. The opening of the hatches is effected by means of a cord 19, attached to drum 17,

operable in unison with drum 17 and connecting with an arm 20 on the nearer hatch. Opposed to arm 20 is an upright 21, having a sheave 22, around which is rove a cord with one end attached to arm 20 and the otherto the farther hatch. Thus when crank 18 is actuated to turn drum 17 in one direction the hatches are opened simultaneously with the rearward swing of the dumping-bridle, and vice versa, when the drum is turned in the opposite direction the hatches are closed simultaneously with the forward swing of the bridle, which is the dumping position. (Shown in'full lines, Fig. 1.)

In operation with the hatches open and the bridleretracted the bucket may descend unimpeded into the shaft or raised therefrom. The bucket having been brought up to a point so that the bottom of the bucket is above the path of the bottom'7 of the bridle, the latter is released, and simultaneously the hatches are closed. As the bucket is lowered member 14: engages hook l2, and the weight of the bucket is transferred from the rope 3 to the bridle andchains 10, and the dump is finally dropped into an ore-car or other suitable receiver located in front of the hatches. The segmental brace 8 serves to support the bucket at the rear when resting on support 7 and insures the bucket dumping forward when tension is released on the, hoisting-rope. The

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roller or bar 9 cooperates with the bail of the bucket to turn the latter to bring the member 14 always into position to be engaged by hook 12 when the bucket is lowered into the bridle. By flexibly suspending the bridle, as by the chains 10, danger of wrecking the apparatus is avoided in case the operator should in hoisting carelessly or accidentally catch the bucket beneath the bridle or the bar 9. This is an important feature.

In Fig. 4 I have shown the coupling member 1 L as comprising a short piece of chain secured at its ends to the bottom of the bucket and lying in a plane coincident or parallel with the plane of the bail of the bucket. The chain forms a flexible loop in lieu of a rigid ring, which latter has been found liable to be flattened and jammed out of shape by rough usage of the heavy bucket, or where a ring is used the bottom of the bucket is liable to become dented and destroy the relation between the ring and hook 12, so that the bucket will not always catch on the hook. Moreover, the chain has the advantage, because it loops from two widely-separated points, while the rings support is more in the nature of a swivel, causing the ring to turn into a plane more or less transverse to the plane of the bail.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1 In apparatus of the class described the combination of hinged hatches, a bucket movable in the line of said hatches, a dumping mechanism including a freely-suspended bridle movable in horizontal planes and interposable in the path of said bucket, and unitary means for operating both the hatches, and the said dumping mechanism.

2. In, apparatus of the class described, the combination with a shaft-opening or the like, of a closure therefor, a bucket movable in the line of said opening, a dumping mechanism interposable in the path of said bucket, said mechanism including a bridle flexibly suspended from a point in advance of said bucket and adapted to have a movement in a horizontal direction to intercept the bucket, and unitary means for opening and closing said closure and operating the said dumping mechanism.

3. In apparatus of the class described, the combination with a shaft or like opening, a hinged closure therefor, a bucket suspended in line with said opening, a flexibly-suspended dumping mechanism oscillating in a horizontal direction in the path of the bucket and unitary means for operating said closure and dumping mechanism coordinately.

4c. In apparatus of the class described, the combination with a shaft-opening or the like, of a closure, a bucket dependent from above and in line with said closure, dumping mechanism interposable in the path of said bucket, said mechanism including a bridle flexibly suspended from a point in advance of said bucket and adapted to have a movement in a horizontal direction to intercept the bucket, and unitary means for simultaneously closing said closure and moving said dumping mechanism into the path of said bucket.

5. In apparatus of the class described, the combination with ashaft-opening or thelike, of a closure, a bucket dependent from above and in line with said closure, dumping mechanism interposable in the path of said bucket, said mechanism including a bridle flexibly suspended from a point in advance of said bucket and adapted to have a movement in a horizontal direction to intercept the bucket, unitary means forsimultaneously closing said closure and moving said dumping mechanism into the path of said bucket, and unitary means for opening said closure and moving said dumping mechanism out of interference with said bucket.

6. In apparatus of the class described. the combination with a shaft-opening or the like, of opposed hinged hatches, a pulley disposed relative to said hatches, a cord passing around said pulley and having one end attached to one of said hatches and the other end to the other hatch, and means to operate one hatch to open and close both.

7. In apparatus of the class described, the combination with a shaft or like opening, of a hinged closure therefor, a frame relative to said opening, a bucket suspended in the line of said opening, a dumping mechanism suspended in advance of said bucket and operatable across the path thereof, said mechanism including an open frame freely suspended from a point in advance of said bucket and adapted to have a movement in a horizontal direction to intercept the bucket and connections between said dumping mechanism and closure for operating the same coordinately.

8. In apparatus of the class described, the combination of a suitable support, a bucket suspended therefrom, and a dumping mechanism flexibly suspended from a point in advance of the bucket and arranged to oscillate in an arc to intercept the bucket, said d umping mechanism including a frame open on one side and having a rigid bottom bucket-support, anda hook recessed in said support, and means on the bucket to engage said hook.

9. In apparatus of the class described, the combination of a suitable support, a bucket suspended therefrom, a dumping mechanism, including aframe open in front and having a rigid bottom portion, flexibly suspended from a point in advance of said bucket and arranged to have the bottom of said frame project forward, said frame adapted to oscillate in an arc to intercept the bucket.

10. In apparatus of the class described, the combination of a suitable support, a bucket suspended therefrom, a dumping mechanism suspended from a point in advance of the bucket and interposable in the path thereof, saiddumping mechanism including a frame open on one side and having means to support the bottom of the bucket, the suspensory means of said frame arranged to cause the bottom thereof to be projected forward.

11. In apparatus of the class described, the combination of a suitable support, a bucket suspended therefrom, a dumping mechanism suspended from said support and oscillating in an arc to intercept the bucket, said dumping mechanism including a frame open at one side and suspended from a point in advance of said bucket and adapted to have a movement in a horizontal direction to intercept the bucket, and hook member interposable in the path of the bucket, and a flexible coupling member as chain 14 on the bucket to engage said hook.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand in presence of two subscribing Witnesses.

, WILLIAM R. WILCOX.

Witnesses S. H. NOURSE, JEssIE G. BRODIE. 

